Dating back to the 1820s, the Boiler Shop was a focal part of the Stephenson Co locomotive works but recent years have seen it attract up to 3,000 people to its food and music events, including the monthly Boiler Shop Steamer, Urban Night Feast and the Eat festivals.

Those events have been paused while developers Clouston Group enlist contractors to refurbish out the building, both inside and out.

Opus Building Services, which provides specialist electrical, heating and plumbing services across a range of sectors, won the contract to fit out the building.

The six-month programme of building works, in partnership with Galliford Try and the Clouston Group, has now started.

The project includes work to decommission and strip out existing services at the Grade II listed building before extensive specialist mechanical and electrical building services installations commence.

The project also includes refurbishment works at 20 South Street and The Boiler Shop.

The developers plan for the new-look venue to be an exciting and unique new event space in the centre of Newcastle, with two main event spaces, the shop floor and mezzanine, as well as an outdoor area.

A set of pods are planned below the mezzanine to provide toilets, kitchen, storage and bar facilities to support events.

Once open it will host corporate events as well as a wide range of culture and arts and it is expected to welcome some of the city’s most prestigious gatherings, performances and exhibitions.

Gavin Richardson, managing director of Boldon-based Opus Building Services, said: “We are thrilled to be involved with the Stephenson Quarter in Newcastle. It is an exciting mixed-use development in the heart of Newcastle and will transform that area of the city.”

The first phase was completed when the Crowne Plaza Hotel opened last year, shortly followed by the completion of The Rocket office scheme, named after the innovative Rocket steam engine built in 1829 on the adjacent Robert Stephenson and Co locomotive works site.